Many individuals enjoy the art of photography to capture images. Different techniques can be used to capture images. Conventional photosensitive film (such as 35 mm film, APS film) can be employed wherein the exposed photosensitive film is processed to generate a hardcopy print. With the advent of digital photography, a digital camera can be employed to capture digital images. A hardcopy print of the digital images can be made using known techniques, for example, using a printer or transmitting the digital image to an on-line service provider for printing, for example, Ofoto, Inc., A Kodak Company.
An individual may wish to save the captured image. For example, the image might be of a family member. For conventional film and processing, a film negative, a film positive, a paper hardcopy print, or other archival storage media is generated during the processing of the conventional photosensitive film. In the case of a film negative, additional hardcopy prints can be generated at the same time as the original processing or at some later time after the original processing. Accordingly, the film negative provides the individual/user with a long-term archival storage medium.
However, for archiving digital images, the user transfers the digital image to a digital storage media such as a magnetic hard drive, a DVD, a CD, a floppy disk, an optical disc, or the like for storage. There exists a concern that these digital storage media, which are available today, may not be available for the long term. That is, with technology changing quickly, individuals may not be able to access their digital images in future years when today's existing technology is no longer available. Examples to consider: turntables for record albums; 8 track players; beta max format VCR players for Beta format videotapes; and players for video camcorder tapes. For computer systems, personal computers (PCs) were originally equipped with 5¼ inch floppy disk drives that have now been typically replaced with 3½ inch floppy disk drives. If a user did not transfer stored digital image information from older devices which are now obsolete to newer devices that are contemporary, then the digital information stored on the older disks can no longer be accessed with contemporary home PCs. Such obsolescence is not confined only to hardware. Software programs can also evolve with some versions of the same named software program no longer being compatible with older versions because of changes in the fundamental code or changes in the stored file structure that results in files no longer being usable if stored in older formats.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a system and method of generating an archival image for an individual/consumer's digital image wherein this archival image can be employed for long-term archivability. It is preferred that this archival image is configured in a human-readable form and is optically printable, that is, printed by transmission of light through the archival image. Such a system and method preferably provides ease of use for the consumer and be distributable in areas frequented by the consumer.
The present invention provides such a system and method of generating an archival image for an individual/consumer's digital image. In a preferred embodiment, the system and method are automated so as to be readily available. The system and method can be used to fulfill other consumer unmet needs in addition to archival storage. For example, the system and method of the present invention can be used to catalog images as a simple library of selected digital images or it can be used to aggregate images using a common theme or event. In this way, the consumer can select those digital images of interest, convert them to archival film-based storage and manage the archival film storage in a way familiar to the consumer today but having the added value that the images are already collated to a desired theme or event.